


Inconvenient Arousal

by gimmezutara



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drunk Katara, F/M, Fire Nation Palace, Party, Sober Zuko, Zutara, background Sukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gimmezutara/pseuds/gimmezutara
Summary: Zuko finds a very drunk Katara at a Fire Nation party and ends up in a pretty awkward situation.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 108





	Inconvenient Arousal

**Author's Note:**

> Began as a drabble based on the prompt 'Drunk', has now been combined with other one-shots to create a whole story so is Chapter 6 of 'Summer of Distractions'. 
> 
> Check out the full fic to read the aftermath of this drunken encounter!

Zuko waded through the crowds in the main room looking for blue.

_Red, gold, red, green, green, red, brown, blue!_

He squeezed between two of his guests and grabbed Sokka by the shoulder.

“Sparky!” Sokka shouted, giving him a hug and a thump on the back. “Great party! I need to take some of this sake back with me, it is so good.”

“Thanks,” Zuko said, a bit distracted. “I’ll get some crates sent back with you-”

“Yessss,” Sokka said, pumping his fist. “Come drink with me buddy!” He grabbed Zuko round the neck with his arm and dragged him towards the drinks table. Zuko managed to wrench out of his grip laughing.

“Have you seen your sister anywhere?” he asked.

Sokka started laughing loudly. “Dude, she is PISSED!” he said. “Oh man, you should’ve seen her, she almost fell straight through that paper wall thing you’ve got over there. Yet another reason why I need to take more of this back with me -” he pointedly waved his glass, “because she is so much funnier when she’s drunk.”

“Is she ok?” asked Zuko, concerned.

Sokka waved his arm nonchalantly, “Relax man, she’s fine, Suki took her out to the gardens to get some fresh air.”

“I’m going to go check she’s ok,” Zuko said, turning to the gardens.

“Boo!” Sokka chided after him, before grabbing a second glass of wine and making his way into the crowds.

***

Zuko relaxed a bit more when he got to the gardens. As much as he enjoyed the palace finally being a place where everyone felt welcome and could enjoy themselves, the night of partying was really starting to wear him down.

He rounded a corner and heard a slurred, “Suki, I’m a waterbender, waterbenders can handle their alcohol, I’m fine - fuck!...ow.”

Suki’s laughter rang through the garden followed by Katara’s. “You idiot,” came Suki’s voice through her laughter, “you’re just like your brother! Can you stop wandering around and just come and sit here please!”

“Fine, only to prove to you I am nothing like my butthead of a brother,” came the grumpy response.

Zuko finally found the source of the voices and saw Katara sprawled out on her back on the floor with Suki sitting next to her.

“Uh, hi, it’s me,” he said awkwardly.

Katara tilted her head backwards from where she lay so she could look at him.

“Zuko! Come join me!” she yelled, patting the grass next to her and scrambling to sit up before she almost tumbled over. Suki gently pushed her back to lying down, laughing.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to move that fast right now, Katara,” she said.

“I feel dizzy..” Katara groaned, her eyes closed. “Zuko come help.”

Zuko felt his insides clench. Why was she choosing him to help over Suki?

Suki looked up at him, eyes dancing with amusement, clearly in the know about something that he didn’t know.

Zuko couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips as he regarded the hopelessly inebriated waterbender.

He stepped closer and knelt down in the grass next to Suki.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take it from here,” he chuckled.

“Thanks,” she smiled as she stood up, brushing the grass off her skirts. “Have you seen Sokka anywhere?”

“Last I saw he was headed to the drinks table,” Zuko responded.

“Ugh,” Suki groaned. “Guess I’ll be out here with another watertribe member soon enough, they cannot hold their alcohol!”

Then she added, “Don’t worry though, I can take him to another part of the gardens.”

She winked at him and left.

Zuko sat there for a moment, completely baffled by the wink. Katara was utterly smashed, there was no way he would do anything. He wouldn’t do anything anyway! Why would she think he would? Did Katara say something?

His mind was running a thousand miles a minute when Katara opened her eyes slightly and saw him sitting over her.

“Zuko!” she said excitedly, moving to sit up again, clearly forgetting what had happened last time she did that. He gently pushed her shoulders back down again, pressing her to the ground. She looked up at him with wide eyes and pouted.

He froze for a moment, unable to look away, very aware that he was leaning over her. The way her hair sprawled out beneath him was seared into his memory. He suddenly sat back.

“I think you need to stay there till you don’t feel so dizzy anymore,” he said.

He moved to lay beside her. 

They looked up at the stars together. Katara started humming to herself happily. After a while she spoke, “The stars are different here.”

Zuko had never really thought about it. “I guess they are,” he said.

“The warriors in our tribe use the stars to navigate their way across the ice,” she said.

“You _are_ a warrior from your tribe,” he said, turning to her.

She pulled a frowning face. “Nooo, like, the _men warriors_ ,” she said, putting on a ridiculous macho-man voice for the last two words.

Zuko snorted a laugh.

“I never learnt how to do it,” she said. “We just used maps when we were flying around in the summer before the war.” She laughed, “We weren’t very good at it.”

Zuko’s eyes widened in realisation. “You used maps to get from the south to the north pole?”

“Yup,” Katara replied.

Zuko started laughing loudly.

Katara turned to look at him in confusion. “What?” she asked, an amused expression playing across her features.

“The whole time I thought the Avatar was a master of evasive manoeuvres. Wow, I mean, I should have realised after I’d actually met Aang, I just thought maybe he had some special airbender powers or something, I don’t know.”

“What, like some sort of magic airbender compass?” she asked as she laughed, slurring the last words together.

“Maybe!” Zuko said, nudging her arm playfully.

Their laughter died down. A thought occurred to Katara. “I had to use the stars one time actually. That was when we were in the desert in the Earth Kingdom. I had star maps though.”

Zuko looked over to her in invitation for her to continue speaking.

“Appa got stolen, and we had no idea where we were going. Aang was too angry to help, Toph couldn’t see, like, really couldn’t see anything and Sokka-” she burst out laughing.

Zuko smiled widely at her laughter.

“Sokka was high on cactus juice,” she squeaked as tears started to fall from her eyes.

Eventually she contained her giggles enough to continue, “Anyway, we’d stolen some star map things from the library so I used them to get us out of there.”

“Escaping a desert with an angry Avatar, a vulnerable Toph and a completely out of it Sokka using star navigation? That’s amazing!” said Zuko. He paused for a moment feeling a pang of regret and looked back up at the sky. “I wish I’d been there to help,” he said, half to himself. He felt Katara’s hand wrap around his. She squeezed his hand in a gesture of comfort.

“Do you know what my favourite part of that summer was?” she asked.

“What was it?” he asked.

“It was the days we spent, just the six of us, all together at Ember Island.”

“What, just days before the war?” Zuko asked incredulously.

“Yeah!” she said. “We worked well together. Like a little family. I always felt like I was being really motherly to everyone, but I never felt that way with you.”

She turned to look at him. “You made me feel...seen I guess. You stood by my side and supported me when I needed it. You just, understood. No one else did.”

He looked at her in surprise, unsure of what to say to such a glowing review of him, from Katara no less.

She smiled at him and he felt his heart grow warm. He could see the stars reflected in her deep blue eyes, mirroring the sky above them. His heart caught in his throat at the sight and he found he could not bring himself to look away from her. She turned away to face the sky, breaking the trance.

“Ok, I think I’m ready to stand up now,” she said. She sat up on her elbows and pushed herself up onto her feet unsteadily. Zuko caught her arm as she stumbled and she grabbed onto him making his heart stutter. 

“Are you ok?” he asked.

She frowned stubbornly at him. “Of course, I’m fine.” She took another step and the world wheeled before her as she pitched forwards.

He grabbed her again, pulling her back upright. He rolled his eyes. “Stubborn waterbender,” he said. “I think you might need to go to bed.”

“Nooo!” she complained loudly, the sound cut off abruptly by a massive yawn.

“Katara you look like you’re about to pass out where you’re standing, come on.”

“I want to go sit by the water,” she said. Her eyes suddenly widened with excitement. “The turtle-ducks!”

She tried to tug him in the direction of the turtle-duck pond and he relented.

Katara sighed with disappointment when she got there. “Where are the turtle-ducks?” she asked.

“They’re all asleep,” Zuko replied, stifling a yawn himself. Out of habit he moved to sit against the tree by the pond. Katara sat next to him.

They stared sleepily at the pond in front of them, watching the moonlight dance on the water. Suddenly Katara’s head lolled forward, making her jump. “Are you ok?” Zuko asked.

“Mmhm,” came the groggy response. “Brrr…”

He looked down at her in surprise. She was shivering. “Are you cold?”

She continued to shiver in response.

“Let me help,” he said gently, reaching over and pulling her into his lap, wrapping his cloak around the two of them. She lay her head on his chest.

She hummed with contentment at his warmth. The sound seemed to reverberate all through Zuko and a goofy smile spread across his face. He tentatively wrapped his arms around her a little tighter. She hummed again in response, the sound dying down as her breathing became slower and heavier.

The soft rhythm of her breathing lulled him into a contented, dozy state. He let his cheek fall to press on the top of her head and felt indescribably happy when she nuzzled her face towards his neck.

She wriggled in his lap to get closer and Zuko suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, eyes shooting open as he felt his member stir in response to her movements and press up against her slightly.

Zuko stayed completely still, praying to any gods watching that Katara didn’t notice.

She wiggled her butt again slightly and Zuko repressed a high pitched whine that almost tore from his throat, internally screaming at himself to stop getting turned on.

He heard a small chuckle from Katara as she stretched her legs out slightly, thighs pressing over his semi-erection.

“I’m too tired for that now, Zuko,” she murmured sleepily.

His stomach flipped as a hot wave of embarrassment shot through him.

Her hand lifted from her lap and waved unsteadily in the air landing on his face, then his shoulder before finally resting high up on his chest.

She pushed herself up slightly and lifted her head up to his ear.

“But I promise I’ll take you up on that offer another time,” she whispered.

She pressed a kiss to his jawline before her head dropped heavily back to his chest, sleeping the unwakeable slumber of the very drunk.

Zuko sat completely in shock. What just happened? Did she just...mean what he thought she meant? Did she actually just kiss him? She was so drunk. Did she know what she was saying?

He groaned slightly at the renewed throbbing between his legs. 

_First things first, stop the growing situation down there._

It proved to be rather challenging with Katara pressed up against him like she was. 

_Think of Uncle in a hot tub… think of Toph picking her toes…. think of Sokka’s dirty socks…._

Suddenly a voice moving through the garden broke through his thoughts. The loud whisper echoed over the water:

“Come on, Suki, I won’t tell Zuko! There’s a spot by the turtle-duck pond that’s perfect, no one will see us!”

Zuko’s eyes snapped wide. 

_Yep, that’ll work._

Situation well and truly dealt with, Zuko tucked one arm under Katara’s legs and another behind her back as he stood up. He quickly moved away from the turtle-duck pond, trying not to think about his favourite spot that was surely about to be desecrated. He looked down at the sleepy waterbender in his arms and sighed. Shifting her position slightly to make her easier to carry, he made his way into the palace to put her to bed.


End file.
